Tesla’s New Autopilot Update Enables Cars To Change Lanes On Their Own

Tesla has launched an incremental update for its Autopilot software. The update imparts more autonomy to the vehicles when the vehicle is travelling on highways. Navigate on Autopilot is a new feature of Version 9 of Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assist software and was introduced back in October 2018.

The functionality enabled cars that
had Enhanced Autopilot to be able to navigate from the on-ramp of a highway to
the off-ramp. However, drivers were required for authorizing the lane changes
by pilling on the turn stalk. The latest update has removed the need for this
authorization from the drivers.

The new update that has been
introduced via an OTA software update enables the drivers to manage these
prompts from the Autopilot settings menu. They can even switch these prompts
off thus giving the car more autonomy between the on-ramp and off-ramp
including changing of lanes. However, as a safety feature, the car will only
change lanes given that the driver’s hands are on the wheel.

The drivers can, if they wish, leave
the settings as they are and allow the car to change lanes on its own after
they have provided the turn stalk with the confirmatory tug. They can also opt
for the car to change lanes on its own but provide audible chimes or visual
prompts that lead up to the actual act of changing lanes. Tesla units that have
been manufactured after 2017 also offer vibration of the steering wheel as an
indication that the car is changing lanes. The driver can cancel the lane
change by moving the car’s turn signal or hitting cancel on the touchscreen.

This marks yet another important step
forward by Tesla towards driverless cars. Tesla has always been outspoken by
its intention of achieving the goal of driverless cars, and CEO Elon Musk has
stated that by the end of the year, the software will be completely
feature-complete. However, until the autonomous cars get a go-ahead by the
regulators and until the software is ready; drivers are required to remain in
control of the car at all times.